STRANGE AND UNSEEN

Chapter 3

Avi's heart stops and so does his breathing as he hears the eerie creak.

He slowly turns his head toward the door but was surprised to not see anyone.

He lowers his eyes to find two huge brown eyes staring up at him. Avi lets go of a shaky breath, he had been holding and gives the man a nervous smile.

The man, sitting in a wheelchair, raises a brow and tilts his head in question of Avi's visit.

"Oh, hi." Avi smiles nervously.

"Hello." The man answers with a very deep voice.

"Uh, I'm Avi. I, uh, just moved in next door a few days ago." Avi says holding out his hand.

The man looks at Avi's hand then again meets his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I....I don't shake hands. Germs." He says quietly.

Avi looks at his hand.

"Tim, Sweetie, you don't need to be answering the door." A man says as he makes his way down the stairs. "Oh, hello." He says with a friendly smile. It was the bald guy with the beard, wearing a baseball cap.

"Hi." Avi smiles. "I'm Avi, your new neighbor."

"Glad to finally meet you." The man says as he shakes Avi's hand while he gently ran his fingers of his other hand through the long hair of the guy in the wheelchair. "I'm Chris and this is my boyfriend..."

"YOU'RE CHEATING, ADAM!!" A voice yells from the living room.

"No I'm not. You can't possibly cheat at this game." Adam, apparently, answers calmly.

"I'm sorry. Please come in." Chris says, rolling his eyes and heading toward the argument taking place in the living room.

"I'm Tim." The man in the wheelchair says as he backs up a bit to allow Avi to come in.

"Pleased to meet you, Tim." Avi says with a smile.

"Sorry about the germ thing." Tim says quietly as he rolls toward the living room.

"No problem." Avi says as he follows Tim, he glances down at the scars on Tim's arms.

"YOU ARE CHEATING!! MR. BIGGLES SAW YOU!!" A guy with long reddish brown hair was shouting.

"HOW THE HELL CAN HE SEE ANYTHING, AUSTIN!! HE'S A MESSED UP TEDDY BEAR WITH BUTTONS FOR EYES!!" Adam shouts back.

"Guys! Will you please stop fighting!? We have company." Chris says. "Show some manners."

"Nobody ever comes to see us." Austin chuckles without looking up, concentrating on his next move in the game they were playing.

Adam looks around at the handsome man standing next to Tim.

"Hi. I'm Adam" Adam smiles and bites his bottom lip. "Those are pretty flowers you have in your hair."

Avi reaches up to touch his beanie as Tim slowly looks up at him to see if he had missed something.

"I'm... I'm Avi. And thank you, I guess" Avi says, whispering the last two words. He looks down at Tim who was smiling at Avi's awkwardness.

"Adam hallucinates sometimes." Tim whispers. "The other guy is Austin. Austin is just plain crazy."

"Oh, alright." Avi chuckles lightly. "But who is Mr. Biggles?" Avi whispers.

"He's that ugly thing sitting next to Austin on the couch. I...I can't hardly look at him without having a panic attack. It's just not right for something to look like that." Tim says, shaking his head.

"Sorry about that." Chris says as he walks back up to Avi, followed by Adam.

"Austin just knows the right buttons to push to get on Tim and Adam's nerves." Chris laughs.

"Chris says that you're our new neighbor." Adam says and Avi nods. "I saw you getting your mail yesterday. I didn't mean to stare but the butterflies were beautiful flying around you."

"Oh, speaking of mail." Avi smiles at Adam. "This was in with my mail." He hands the letter to Chris.

"Oh, Okay. Thanks." Chris says, glancing at the letter then laying it aside on a table with the other mail.

"Aren't there two other guys that live here?" Avi asks out of curiosity.

"Oh yea, there is. Rob and Chance, they're at work. Chance works for the Fire Department and Rob is vice president at the bank." Chris says then chuckles. "I know what you're thinking, why do we live in a run down house like this? It's my house and it was cheap. Plus we needed a house big enough for everyone."

"Are you're not going to finish the game, Adam?" Austin says as he walks up to where everyone was standing. In his arms, he carries the weirdest stuff animal that Avi has ever seen.

The head and body was that of a teddy bear. It's limbs had been replaced with the limbs of a baby doll. Bunny rabbit ears had been sewn to it's head and a raccoon tail had been added.

Avi stares at the toy with a mixture of confusion and shock.

"Oh, how rude of me." Austin says when he sees Avi staring. "This is Mr. Biggles."

Avi, not really knowing what to do, smiles and nods his head. Avi glances at the others. Adam turns his back to the toy. Chris rolls his eyes and shakes his head. Tim covers his eyes with one of his hands and was breathing irregularly.

Chris stoops down in front of the wheelchair and rubs Tim on the leg.

"It's alright, Sweetie. Just take a breath. Calm down." Chris raises up and kisses Tim on the forehead. "Adam, why don't you take Tim into the living room and find something on TV to watch."

"Chris, there's a rat." Adam whispers, taking Chris by the arm.

"Where?" Chris asks, looking around.

"On the table by the mail." Adam whispers again staring with fear at the table.

Chris looks around at the table but he sees no rat.

"It's Okay, little brother. I'll take care of it. You just go with Tim, alright?" Chris says as he rubs Adam on the back. Adam nods then looks at Avi.

"Will you come back and see us?" Adam asks with a small smile.

"I'd love too." Avi smiles at him.

"Me and Mr. Biggles are going to go take a nap before supper." Austin says. "Tell Avi bye, Mr Biggles."

Austin takes the doll hand and waves it.

Avi smiles and gives a slight wave.

"Mr. Biggles says he likes you." Austin giggles and heads up the stairs.

"God. I'm so sorry." Chris says shaking his head, clearly embarrassed.

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A BIG THANK-YOU TO KMelion for creating an image for MR. BIGGLES!

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